NFL Teaser Betting

NFL Teaser Betting

Nowadays, you can customize just about anything, and that includes NFL wagers. If the point spread is looking a little lacklustre, alter it with an NFL teaser bet. These bets are incredibly popular with intermediate and advanced sports bettors, but that shouldn’t stop a beginner from discovering the wonderful world of NFL teasers.

What is an NFL Teaser Bet?

A teaser is a modification used to systematically reduce the risk in a parlay. With NFL teaser betting, the risk is reduced by shifting the spreads and/or totals by 6, 6.5 or 7 points for all the bets in the parlay. When you tease a parlay, you’re shifting the spread or total in a direction that benefits you. Teasing a favourite reduces the spread, whereas teasing an underdog increases the spread. When including a total in your parlay, the Over would be decreased and the Under would be increased. The line is always shifted in the direction that will help you win your bet.

How do Football Teasers Work?

Teasers include 2 to 10 spreads and/or totals that are parlayed together; all the bets need to win in order for your teaser to win. If one bet loses, the teaser loses. From time to time, some bets will result in a push (a tie) or "No Action"; in these scenarios, the parlay is reduced in size. For example, a five-team teaser with one push and one "No Action" would reduce to a three-team teaser. Two-team teasers don’t reduce in these scenarios. If you win one game, and your second game line comes back as a push or "No Action", the entire teaser is a push or "No Action" and the money staked is returned.

To help illustrate teasers in action, we’ll use a three-team teaser that includes two spreads and a game total.

Cincinnati Bengals -4.5Indianapolis Colts +8Total: o 44.5

We’re going to use a 6-point teaser for this example. The point spread for the Cincinnati Bengals is —4.5 points, so shifting it by 6 points changes it to +1.5. Now, instead of the Bengals needing to win by at least 5 points, they can win outright or even lose by a single point and still pay their bettors. As for the Colts, they’re listed as 8-point underdogs, so a 6-point teaser would widen that margin to 14 points. Initially, they had to lose by fewer than 8 points for bets to pay out, but with the teaser, a Colts’ loss by 13 or fewer points is a winning bet for Indianapolis fans.

As shown in the example, the over-under can also be included in your teased parlay. In our example, the Over (a 44.5-point total) was included. To make it easier for the Over to win, the 6-point teaser will bring the total down 6 points—from 44.5 to 38.5. It’ll be significantly easier to win the Over on a 38.5 total than it would be with a 44.5 total.

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NFL Teaser Payouts

If teasers reduce risk, why isn’t everyone betting on NFL teasers? The trade-off for the reduced risk is a reduced payout, so they should be used strategically. See below for a chart that shows the payout for each teaser size and number of points.

Teaser Size

6 Points>

6.5 Points

7 Points

2-Team

—110

—120

—130

3-Team

+160

+140

+120

4-Team

+260

+225

+200

5-Team

+400

+375

+325

6-Team

+600

+500

+450

7-Team

+900

+800

+700

8-Team

+1500

+1100

+900

9-Team

+2000

+1500

+1200

10-Team

+2500

+2000

+1500

Two things affect teaser payouts: the number of points you’re teasing, and the size of the parlay. The more teams in your teaser parlay, the bigger the payouts, and the more numbers you tease the lines by, the more you’ll fork over through reduced payouts.

What is an NFL Sweetheart Teaser?

Standard NFL teasers let you shift point spreads by a maximum of 7 points. Sweetheart teasers, meanwhile, let you shift point spreads by 10 points for a three-team teaser and 13 points for a four-team teaser. The following payouts apply to sweetheart teasers:

Sweetheart Teaser Size

10 Points

13 Points

3-Team

—110

NA

4-Team

NA

—120

Unlike with standard teasers, when one of the lines in your sweetheart teaser results in a push or is deemed "No Action", they don’t reduce. If a line results in a push, the sweetheart teaser loses, and if a line results in "No Action", the entire sweetheart teaser is graded "No Action", and your bet is refunded.

NFL teasers provide bettors with an opportunity to capitalize on parlay betting, while making it less risky than normal. Starting with a simple two-team teaser should give you a taste of this custom-side of sports betting.